America faces a challenge that many people have trouble dealing with, it's the issue of gay marriage. Countries around the world have handle the issue in different ways; some have approved it in one way or another, while some have chosen to ignore it altogether.
Same-sex marriage has been approved in Great Britain and most recently in South Africa. The United States has chosen to leave the decision of gay marriage up to the individual states. Regretfully, this way of handling the issue was almost overthrown; when in 2000 at the State of the Union address, President Bush proposed an amendment be made to ban same-sex marriage forever.
The president wanted to ban same-sex marriage and publicly announced it, because he knew that it was what the majority of his voters wanted to hear. His actions also struck fear in homosexuals, because their president was willing to ban their right to love forever. The amendment would ban same-sex marriage and also demand that no states would recognize same-sex couples. This extreme, discriminative, and conservative action was backed by many states who were opposed to the legalization of gay marriage.
As of now Massachusetts is the only state in the United States that allows same-sex marriage, and New Jersey, Connecticut, and Vermont have all approved civil unions, the marriage "alternative". However, in 39 states legislatures have decided to prohibit and not recognize same-sex marriages in their states.
No one knows if the nation as a whole will ever fully accept gay-marriage, but gays of today and in the future are fighting for their right to love.
More Information/Sources:
"Public's shifting view can open way to fair solution." USA Today . Academic Search Premier. 4 March 2007.
"Down State." New Republic 15 Mar. 2004: 7+. Academic Search Premier. 4 March 2007.
"New Jersey lawmakers OK gay civil unions." Christian Century 124.1 (2007): 14-14. Academic Search Premier. 13 March 2007.
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